Hostile waters
Welcome to hostile waters Hostile waters are places where players who are not pirates or privateers can be attacked by other players. Player pirates and privateers may be attacked anywhere. If your name on the flag turns orange or red then you are considered to be a pirate. You know you are in hostile waters because you will receive a popup message when you enter the area. You will also see a small skull on the top left-hand corner of your compass. The Status of a Sea Areas Some hostile waters can turn into safe waters if enough Pirates/Privateer players and NPC's are killed. The same effect happens when hostile waters turn safe, Players killing NPC traders will turn the water hostile again. The canary Islands and The Black Sea are apparently permanent hostile waters Adventure XP in Hostile Waters It appears that you get a bonus to Adventure sailing XP by sailing through hostile or lawless waters. Your aides will also develop Adventure and Maritime XP faster by sailing through these waters but that is anecdotal observation I have not actually measured it. New Players and Hostile Waters Before going into these areas be sure that you know how to: 1. set you staus to Private, 2. Have life preservers to recover crew if you are sunk. 3. Have your insurance level high enough. 4 Are not carrying most of your gold. There are only four areas of hostile water that most New players have access to at relatively low levels; The Black Sea, The Canary Islands, The Azores and North America near the Company Colony. Of these the most dangerous for new players are Black Sea and North America Sailing in Hostile Waters is only really dangerous if you are near a port because that is where the big NPC's are and where player pirates hangout. So if you go into hostile waters then only land at ports where you have business. Do not try and trade down the coast unless you are very confident in your ability to avoid NPC's The ocean is a big place if player pirates cannot see you they can't sink you. New players should set their status to "Private" allow friends" or "Private do not allow friends" doing this will prevent pirates from using the Search function to find you. In other words they will have to actually see you. New players should also realize that player pirates have Alts in the game that troll the school chats. Do not advertise where you are going and don't make indiscriminate friends. If you are in an open sea area such as the South Atlantic or North Atlantic there are very few player pirates and even new players will be OK as long as they have the caution skill. Of course, you do ocassionally cross paths with a pirate but that is part of the game. Make sure you have your insurance high enough and don't worry about it. It is a free game, the pirates can't really hurt you. If you are attacked by a big PLAYER pirate try dropping your sails and quickly offering 1/2 your gold. Many times they will leave new players alone who don't resist. Whatever you do don't curse at them, threaten them of cry. That just makes them want to attack you again. You can't really threaten a level 65 pirate. The Black Sea The Black Sea is located North of Greece and Turkey and empties into the Mediteranian Sea through the Bosporus Straigts. The most difficult of the Hostile Waters is probably the Black Sea because it is only accessible through the narrow Bosporus Straights and there are large NPC galleys that patrol that area. This is an area that is difficult to access even for fairly high level players and the ports, other than Istanbul in the Black Sea do not have very many products that new players can access without an investment; so the only reason to go there is to discover the towns. It should be noted that Istanbul requires a disguise of 60 to enter and is the only port that new players cannot enter wearing the blue school uniform. So if you go there be sure to have a suit of clothing, a turban and Arabian Shoes if you want to discover the port. Besides Istanbul there are 4 other ports in the Black Sea The Canary Islands The Canary Islands are located off the coast of Africa, South of Maderia. There are only two ports in the area. Aguin on the African coast and Las Palmas in the Canary Islands. There are intermediate level NPC's in the area that are often used to level Maritime ability. Player pirates are often in this area because they are on the route to India, the Caribbean and South America. Unfortunately, sometime low level pirates hang out in this area too. However, because Las Palma is very close to the border with the Maderia Open Ocean area which is Safe Waters you can normally get in and out with out too much trouble if you are careful. Normaly new players can reach Arguin by hugging the coast. In a small ship you want the game to tell you "You are to close to land. Please change course" don't run agound but stay near the coast and you can generally slip by the NPC's The Azores The Azores are located in the middle of the Atlantic There is only one port on the middle of three islands The Azores are probably the most difficult islands in the game for new players to find. If you start as a Portuguese or Spanish player you start with port permits for them. They are located due West of Lisbon and are about a 10 to 15 day sail depending upon how fast your ship is. If you have the Survey skill or a quadrant then stay on Latitude 3205 and you will run right into them. It is recommended that you have either the Survey skill or take a quadrant. Otherwise they are very hard to see and you will be lost out in the middle of the Atlanic, weeks from land with no food or water. The only port is ringed by fairly tough NPC pirates in Battle Galleons. This is also a place where lots of player pirates can be found. So be careful if you go there The Company Colony The Company Colony is located along the East Coast of the Shores of North America from Florida to Canada. If you are in a company and it has a colony then you may sail to that colony regardless of whether you have port permits for North America or not. The game will still give you a "You do not have Port Permits for this area" message. Ignore it. The Waters around North America are often dangerous. This is compounded by the fact that if your company's colony does not yet have a bank then you have to carry lots of gold if you want to build a building there. Thus, if you are new player you should only go to the colony if it has a bank, you can access a friends colony near by that has a bank, or if you can fleet with a higher level company member. Pirates love to catch transport carracks carrying 1 million gold. But, there is NO FASTER way for new players to gain merchant levels than to carry 4 or 5 stacks of 50 local specialty products to North America and sell them in the company colony. You will get almost as much trade XP per stack of local specialty producs there as you would going to India. You can easily make 1500 to 2000 XP with 300 cargo units of 50 feathers, 50 Whiskey, 50 Apple Vinegar, 50 Dried Apples, 50 Flax, 50 Dutch Calico. You then buy goods in the colony markets and return to Europe for an additional 200 to 500 XP GrayBeard 01:26, March 9, 2012 (UTC) Dimez 23:29, November 5, 2010 (UTC)